Making Shakespeare new again
[Nicholas Yenson as Malvolio, Lilli Hokama as Viola/Cesario, and Futaba as Feste in Folger Theatre's production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Photo by Erika Nizborski.]
a review of Twelfth Night at the Folger Theatre
by Norah Vawter
There’s a fascinating new production of Twelfth Night on stage at the Folger Theatre, running through June 22. It’s a lot of fun. It’s also a bit odd and messy, a surprising take on William Shakespeare’s classic comedy of twins separated by a shipwreck. Director Mei Ann Teo takes chances here with an overtly sexy, adult production that brings the inherent bawdiness of Shakespeare’s text to the surface and, yes, warrants the content warning the Folger lists on their website. A lot of skin is bared, fishnets do appear, kink is actively explored as a theme, and dueling characters brandish whips and feathers instead of swords. The show, which also explores the fluidity of gender and sexuality, has a transgressive, audacious, devil-may-care attitude. It feels underground. It feels cool, new, young. But as I watched the characters’ adventures and misadeventures play out on stage, I did wonder if this interpretation was too original.
Frankly, this could’ve gone wrong. That’s the nature of risk-taking. But Teo’s show balances the new with the old, vision with faithfulness, audacity with restraint. The cast and crew dances right up to the precipice of “too much” without ever falling off that cliff. For all the wackiness and supposed chaos on stage, this production is actually a marvel of technical precision. It’s highly stylized and expertly choreographed, giving the impression that everyone involved, on stage and behind the scenes, is on the ball. And having a ball. The Folger’s new Twelfth Night is not a perfect show. There are some uneven elements, some aspects that aren’t quite gelling. But it’s brave. It’s truly original. And again, this show is so much fun to watch, to experience. And to think about.
The action of Twelfth Night takes place in the aftermath of disaster. It’s a story of confusion, mistaken identities, wrong assumptions, and generally wacky shenanigans. Viola (Lilli Hokama) and her twin brother Sebastian (El Beh) both survive a shipwreck and wash up on the shore of a country called Illyria. But they’re separated in the water. Neither knows if the other is alive. Terrified at the idea of being a young woman on her own in a strange land, Viola tries to keep herself safe by swapping genders. She dons masculine clothes and calls herself Cesario. Soon she is employed by Duke Orsino (Alyssa Keegan), and promptly falls in love with him. But Orsino is in love with the wealthy Olivia (Alina Collins Maldonado), who in turn is in love with Viola/Cesario. And what will happen when Sebastian, who looks quite a bit like his sister, gets thrown into the mix?
It’s a complicated story with a huge ensemble and a lot of moving parts. Watching the story play out on stage can be confusing, especially because the characters themselves are often confused and operating on either faulty or missing information. But this cast does an excellent job of grounding us in the scene in specific and emotional ways, so even if we’re struggling to keep up with names or details, we the audience are invested in the emotional core of whatever’s happening on stage. Casting Director Danica Rodriguez did an excellent job bringing this ensemble together.
[Che Kabia as Sir Toby Belch, Futaba as Feste, and Hunter Ringsmith as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Folger Theatre's production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night.’ Photo by Erika Nizborski.]
Another grounding element is the production music, which not only roots the audience in the emotional experience of a scene, but also pulls the whole production together. Composer Be Steadwell has created an entrancing soundtrack, which includes elements of 80’s pop, house music, and some notes of more traditional Elizabethan music. Sometimes playful, sometimes mournful, Steadwell’s composition is infinitely rich. I’m also a huge fan of the bright, eclectic costuming by Olivera Gajic.
Across the board the acting is superb, and the ensemble demonstrates a solid grasp of wit, physicality, and emotional depth. They’re also quite good at speaking Shakespeare, so that they’re delivering the Bard’s words casually, almost effortlessly. Standouts include Alina Collins Maldonado, Lilli Hokama, Alyssa Keegan, and Nicholas Yenson.
Maldonado’s Olivia is equal parts regal bad-ass and passionate sweetheart, and the actor excels in the moments when the character shifts her mood or role. Hokama imbues her Viola/Cesario with a raw vulnerability and a sense of innocence, even purity. Yenson plays the tightly wound steward Malvolio, a role that is often purely comic, and he’s very funny, but in some crucial scenes he also makes us empathize with the clown in surprising ways.
[Alina Collins Maldonado as Olivia, Lilli Hokama as Viola/Cesario, and Alyssa Keegan as Orsino in Folger Theatre's production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night.’ Photo by Erika Nizborski.]
Keegan’s portrayal of Duke Orsino is particularly interesting because of the way the character’s gender is interpreted. Keegan uses they/them pronouns and portrays Orsino (who in most productions would be indisputably male) as a potentially nonbinary individual. This is part of a larger theme that runs throughout the production. Gender swapping is at the heart of the plot of Twelfth Night, and Director Teo is exploring gender in many different ways.
So as you can see, there’s a lot going on here! And I haven’t even gotten to the scenic design, or the lighting and projections, or the attempts to explore grief and loss. Teo’s production is not just ambitious and bold, it’s densely layered and endlessly complex. Which makes this an exciting show to watch, a show I absolutely recommend, but it’s also a show that has so many disparate elements, they don’t mesh together into a seamless whole. It’s messy, as bold, new attempts often are.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “When people talk about style they are always a little astonished at the newness of it, because they think that is only style that they are talking about, when what they are talking about is the attempt to express a new idea with such force that it will have the originality of the thought.” Mei Ann Teo has certainly brought a new style to Twelfth Night, along with a forceful originality of thought. (And I think Scott Fitzgerald would have loved it.)
As the play concluded and the lights came up, I was grinning ear to ear. So was the cast on stage. They must have been exhausted, and yet they seemed genuinely gleeful, like they’d had so much fun performing and could go on all night. That glee was infectious, and strikes me as important. I felt grateful to be in the audience at the Folger on opening night. Because joy matters. Being a member of a community matters. And art delivered with a spirit of pure fun, mere blocks from the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., is surely an act of resistance and survival in these troubled times.
Twelfth Night runs through June 22 at the Folger Theatre, located at 201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington DC, 20003. The runtime is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 202-544-7027 or online.
Norah Vawter is the co-founder and fiction/nonfiction editor of Washington Unbound. She’s a freelance writer, editor, and novelist and is represented by Victress Literary. Follow her on Instagram and Threads @norahvawter and check out her Substack, Survival by Words, here.
